Feb btt 2016 - DCBEAGLE Challenges

MATHEMATICS: BEYOND THE TEXTBOOK – January 2016
DCBEAGLE Challenges ~ Douglas Buchanan ~ http://www.dcbeagle.com
DCBEAGLE challenges go international
As many know I am one of the presentation team at the annual Irish Maths Week, the largest
maths festival in the world, each October but now I have been invited to host three challenges
in Nairobi in September. A regular entry for my challenges visited Kenya over Christmas and
this how this booking came to fruition.
The other unique location will be in one of the biospheres of The Eden Project in Cornwall in
June.
Exciting times ahead!
This month’s puzzle
Sharing the money
Two travellers sat down in the woods to have lunch. One produced five loaves and the other
three. Then a stranger came upon the scene and asked permission to eat them. He produced
no bread himself, but the three shared the eight loaves equally. The stranger then put down 8
pence in payment of his share. How should the money be fairly distributed between the two
travellers?
Understanding maths versus explaining answers
In a blog on Mr Meyers website (http://blog.mrmeyer.com) two contributors argue that pupils
should not have to explain their answers. “I wouldn’t bet that the student with correct but
unexplained answers understands nothing, but I wouldn’t make any confident bets on exactly
what that student understands either.” To read the article in full click here.
Websites of the month
Kenken (http://www.kenkenpuzzle.com/game). I was reminded by my friend Andrew Jeffrey
about this website where this puzzle was allegedly going to surpass Sudoku in the 1990s and
was brought to this country by The Times. The website is very much interactive and easy to
use. There is a wide range of levels to cover many age groups (including adults). Printed
versions can be found at http://krazydad.com/inkies.
Transum - Times Tables
This website has a wide range of topics and there is a comprehensive suite of programs for
learning multiplication tables - the flavour of the new year!
http://transum.com/Tables/Times_Tables.asp
DCBEAGLE Challenges
This Spring term is my busiest with many weeks having 3 or 4 events. The good news is that
most of them run with capacity numbers or waiting lists. Do visit the website for further details
and to locate the booking forms:
Year 6 Maths
St John's Beaumont
Monday 8 February
2:00 - 4:00
Year 4 Spell It!
Eagle House, Berkshire
Tuesday 9 February
2:00 - 3:30
Year 5 Maths
Langley Preparatory Norwich
Thursday 11 February
1:30 - 3:30
Year 6 Maths
Langley Preparatory Norwich
Friday 12 February
1:30 - 3:30
Year 5 Maths
Belmont (Mill Hill)
Tuesday 23 February
2:00 - 4:00
Year 4 Maths
Ryde School, IOW
Thursday 25 February
10:30 - 12:30
Year 5 Maths
Ryde School, IOW
Thursday 25 February
1:45 - 3:45
Year 5 Maths
Haileybury, Hertford
Tuesday 1 March
10:30 - 1:15
Year 5 Maths
The Paragon School, Bath
Wednesday 2 March
1:30 - 3:30
Year 4 Maths
Christ Hospital, Horsham
Thursday 3 March
1:30 - 3:30
Year 5 Maths
Wrekin College Shropshire
Friday 4 March
12:30 - 3:00
Year 4 Maths
Gayhurst, Bucks
Monday 07 March
2:00 - 4:00
Year 5 Maths
Wellington College
Tuesday 08 March
2:00 - 4:15
Year 5 Maths
Crosfields School, Reading
Thursday 10 March
2:00 - 4:00
Year 5 Maths
St Gregory’s Catholic Science ColFriday 11 March
lege, Harrow
2:00 - 4:00
Year 6 Maths
Malvern St James
Tuesday 15 March
2:00 - 4:00
Year 6 Maths
Mowden Hall, Newcastle
Thursday 17 March
1:30 - 3:30
Year 5 Maths
Newcastle High for Girls
Friday 18 March
1:30 - 3:30
Year 4 Maths
Wrekin College, Shropshire
Friday 22 April
1:30 - 3:30
Year 4 Maths
Aldwickbury, Harpenden
Tuesday 26 April
2:15 - 4:00
Year 5 Maths
Junior King's, Canterbury
28 April 2015
2:00 - 4:00
Year 5 Maths
Davenies School
Tuesday 3 May
2:00 - 4:00
Puzzling
Dragon School, Oxford
Monday 9 May
8:50 - 10:40
Year 4 Maths
Brighton Grammar School
Tuesday 10 May
2:00 - 4:00
Year 5 Maths
Summer Fields, Oxford
17 May 2016
2:00 - 4:00
Year 4 Maths
St George's Junior Weybridge
Friday 20 May
2:00 - 4:00
Year 6 Maths
St Faith's Cambridge
Thursday 26 May
12:30 - 3:30
Year 4 Maths
Eden Project, Cornwall
Tuesday 14 June
10:00 - 12:00
Year 5 Maths
Eden Project, Cornwall
Tuesday 14 June
1:00 - 3:00
Year 4 Maths
Waverley, Finchampstead
Friday 24 June
2:00 - 4:00
Learning tables on a chess / checker board
In the website Learn with Math Games there is a very good activity involving a chessboard and
counters. At the bottom of the page are links to other activities and the new pages have
further links.
We always need to try something different because the modern child, who now expects
results instantly, will not enjoy the likes of rote learning where there is ‘no meaning’ in the
exercise.
Jokes for the pupils
Which month has 28 days? All of them of course!
What’s the easiest way to double your money? Put it in front of a mirror.
What has a face and two hands but no arms or legs? A clock
What 4 days of the week start with the letter ‘t’? Tuesday, Thursday, today and tomorrow.
If two’s company and three’s a crowd, what are four and five? 9
Sharing the money solution
Five loaf traveller should receive 7p and the other traveller should receive 1p
Final words
Hope you have an enjoyable term and do send in any contributions you wish to share with
others. I am sure I will meet up with many of you over the next couple of terms at my
challenges.